Anti-abrasive mechanism confining flat flexible cable in position in flatbed image scanner

ABSTRACT

A mechanism for confining a flat flexible cable of an image scanner in position is provided. The flat flexible cable is electrically connected between a circuit board and a carriage and bends differentially with the movement of the carriage relative to the circuit board under a scanning platform. The mechanism includes a confining member disposed between a first portion of the flat flexible cable and the scanning platform for isolating the flat flexible cable from the scanning platform. The confining member changes states and bends differentially with the movement of the carriage relative to the circuit board under the scanning platform, and has a bending resistance greater than that of the flat flexible cable. Accordingly, the confining member is kept at least a certain clearance from the scanning platform while confining the first portion of the flat flexible cable thereunder.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a division of application No. 10/791,135, filed Mar.2, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,953,898, which is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an anti-abrasive mechanism for use in aflatbed image scanner, and more particularly to a mechanism for avoidingabrasion by confining the flat flexible cable in position in the flatbedimage scanner.

A flat flexible cable is a common connecting wire between electricdevices. It is advantageous to be easily and reversibly bent andstretched in a narrow and crowded space. For example, in a flatbed imagescanner, the moving-around carriage containing therein optical andphotoelectric devices is connected with the circuit board through a flatflexible cable. Please refer to FIGS. 1( a) and 1(b) which are a top anda cross-sectional side views, respectively, schematically showing thearrangement of a flat flexible cable in a flatbed image scanner. Theflatbed scanner includes an upper cover (not shown) and a lower housing10. In the lower housing, a carriage 11 containing therein optical andphotoelectric devices, a driving device 12 consisting of a motor andgear set 121 and a rail set 122, a circuit board 13 for processingelectric signals received from the carriage 11, and a flat flexiblecable 14 connecting the carriage 11 with the circuit board 13 arecovered with a transparent scanning platform 15 for placing thereon theobject to be scanned. The carriage 11 is moved by the motor and gear set121 along the rail set 122 to pass by the scanned object, e.g. adocument, film or picture, so as to realize the image data of thedocument or picture.

Please refer to FIG. 2( a), which is a schematic cross-sectional diagramshowing the structure of a conventional flat flexible cable. The flatflexible cable 14 includes a flexible copper foil 141, an insulatingwrapper 142 made of a flexible plastic, and a strengthening plate 143made of a rigid plastic. The insulating wrapper 142 surrounds the copperfoil 141 with two ends of the copper foil 141 exposed for electriccontact with the carriage 11 and the circuit board 13, respectively. Thestrengthening plate 143 is mounted onto the end portion of the flatflexible cable 14 to facilitate the insertion of the exposed copper foilinto the connecting slot (not shown) of the carriage 11 or the circuitboard 13.

The configuration of the flat flexible cable 14 changes with themovement of the carriage 11 along a scanning direction. Before ascanning operation begins, the carriage 11 stands beside the circuitboard 13 so that the flat flexible cable 14 is bent at around the middlepoint thereof. With the movement of the carriage 11 away from thecircuit board 13, the bent point also advances. As is known to thoseskilled in the art, the flat flexible cable is made of light andflexible material such as plastic or rubber so that the bent portionascends relative to the unbent portion due to the flexible propertythereof. The bent portion may undesirably rise up to the inner surfaceof the platform 15 that is made of glass so as to be subject toabrasion. As shown in FIG. 2( b), abrasion is likely to occur in thebent portion due to the contact of the flat flexible cable 14 with thetransparent platform 15. Especially for an image scanner having reducedthickness or using a contact image sensor (CIS) as an image pickupdevice which requires close contact with the document placed on theplatform 15, the flat flexible cable 14 has great chance to keep incontact with the inner surface of the platform 15. The dropped chipsresulting from the abrasion may smear the platform 15 and adverselyaffect the scanning quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an anti-abrasive device for isolating theflat flexible cable from the glass platform so as to avoid abrasion.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a mechanism for confining a flat flexible cable of an imagescanner in position. The flat flexible cable is electrically connectedbetween a circuit board and a carriage and bends differentially with themovement of the carriage relative to the circuit board under a scanningplatform. The mechanism comprises a confining member disposed between afirst portion of the flat flexible cable and the scanning platform forisolating the flat flexible cable from the scanning platform. Theconfining member changes states and bends differentially with themovement of the carriage relative to the circuit board under thescanning platform, and has a bending resistance greater than that of theflat flexible cable. Accordingly, the confining member is kept at leasta certain clearance from the scanning platform while confining the firstportion of the flat flexible cable thereunder.

In an embodiment, the confining member has one end secured to thecarriage and disposed above the first portion of the flat flexiblecable, and the other end secured to the circuit board. Preferably, thelength of the confining member is slightly less than or equal to that ofthe flat flexible cable.

In an embodiment, the confining member has one end secured to thecarriage and the other end secured to the circuit board and disposedabove the first portion of the flat flexible cable.

Preferably, the confining member is unidirectionally bendable.

In an embodiment, the confining member comprises a flexible strip and aplurality of rigid ribs. The flexible strip bends differentially withthe movement of the carriage. The plurality of rigid ribs are fixed onthe flexible strip in close to each another for enhancing the bendingresistance of the flexible strip.

In an embodiment, the flexible strip is made of a plastic material, andthe rigid ribs are made of plastic or metals and arranged one by one inparallel along the moving direction of the carriage.

In an embodiment, the confining member comprises a plurality of rigidparts connected in series along the moving direction of the carriage,and each of the rigid parts is pivotally coupled to a preceding rigidpart with the front-bottom corner and a following rigid part with therear-bottom corner.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a mechanism for confining a flat flexible cable of an imagescanner in position. The flat flexible cable is electrically connectedbetween the circuit board and the carriage and bends differentially withthe movement of the carriage relative to the circuit board under ascanning platform. The mechanism comprises a confining member disposedbetween the flat flexible cable and the scanning platform for isolatingthe flat flexible cable from the scanning platform. The confining memberchanges states with the movement of the carriage and continually tensedto keep itself at least a certain clearance from the scanning platformwhile confining the flat flexible cable thereunder.

In an embodiment, the confining member is a thread, rope or strip.

In an embodiment, the mechanism further comprises a pulley. Theconfining member has a first end connected to the carriage and a secondend connected to the pulley, and is continually tensed by being rolledup by and released from the pulley with the movement of the carriage.

Preferably, the pulley is the one that is wound by the transmission beltfor transmitting the carriage to move.

In an embodiment, the mechanism further comprises a reel for windingthereon the confining member before the confining member is connected tothe pulley. The reel is disposed at a specific position to keep a firstsection of the confining member above the flat flexible cable to isolatethe flat flexible cable from the scanning platform and a second sectionof the confining member connected to the pulley.

Preferably, the first section extends along the moving direction of thecarriage, and the second section is substantially perpendicular to thefirst section.

In an embodiment, the confining member is made cyclic and has two endsthereof respectively secured to forward and rearward sides of thecarriage and enclosing the flat flexible cable therewith.

In an embodiment, the mechanism further comprises two rollers disposedadjacent to and distant from the circuit board, respectively, along themoving direction of the carriage for tensing the confining member andfacilitating the rotation of the confining member with the movement ofthe carriage.

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will becomemore readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art afterreviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings,in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1( a) is a schematic top plane view of a typical flatbed scanner;

FIG. 1( b) is a schematic cross-sectional side view of the scanner ofFIG. 1( a);

FIG. 2( a) is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure ofa conventional flat flexible cable;

FIG. 2( b) is a schematic view illustrating the contact of theconventional flat flexible cable with the scanning platform of ascanner;

FIG. 3( a) schematically illustrates an anti-abrasive mechanism forconfining a flat flexible cable of an image scanner in positionaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3( b) schematically illustrates an anti-abrasive mechanism forconfining a flat flexible cable of an image scanner in positionaccording to another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4( a) through 4(gg) schematically illustrate a first embodiment ofthe confining member used in the anti-abrasive mechanism of FIG. 3( a)or 3(b) and exemplified variations thereof;

FIGS. 5( a) and 5(b) are respectively a side and a cross-sectional viewsshowing a second embodiment of the confining member used in theanti-abrasive mechanism of FIG. 3( a) or 3(b);

FIG. 6 is a top view schematically illustrating an anti-abrasivemechanism for confining a flat flexible cable of an image scanner inposition according to another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view schematically illustrating ananti-abrasive mechanism for confining a flat flexible cable of an imagescanner in position according to a further preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In order to avoid abrasion by isolating the flat flexible cable from thescanning platform in an image scanner, an anti-abrasive mechanism isused to confine the flat flexible cable in position under the scanningplatform. According to the present invention, three kinds ofanti-abrasive mechanism are exemplified as shown in FIGS. 3, 6 and 7, awhole or partial portion of which is disposed between the scanningplatform and the flat flexible cable to avoid abrasion by suppressing orconfining the flat flexible cable.

Referring to FIG. 3( a) or 3(b), an anti-abrasive mechanism forconfining a flat flexible cable of an image scanner in positionaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown.When an object such as a document, picture or film is to be scanned bythe image scanner, the object is placed on the scanning platform 30. Thecarriage 33 containing therein optical and photoelectric devices (notshown) passes through under the scanning platform 30 to pick up image ofthe scanned object. The flat flexible cable 32 connects the carriage 33with the circuit board 31 to transmit electric signals generated by thephotoelectric device in response to the picked image to the circuitboard 31 to be further processed. With the movement of the carriage 33relative to the circuit board 31 under the scanning platform 30, theflat flexible cable 32 bends differentially. As previously described,before a scanning operation begins, the carriage 33 stands beside thecircuit board 31 so that the flat flexible cable 32 is bent at aroundthe middle point thereof. With the movement of the carriage 33 away fromthe circuit board 31, the bent point also advances. In order to avoidthe contact of the flat flexible cable 32 with the scanning platform 30,the flat flexible cable 32 should be confined in position.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3( a), the mechanism for confining theflat flexible cable 32 in position includes a confining member 34disposed under the scanning platform 30 and enclosing the flat flexiblecable 32. Thus, the upper portion 321 of the flat flexible cable 32,i.e. the end secured to the carriage 33, is suppressed by the confiningmember 34 to avoid rising up to the scanning platform 30. With themovement of the carriage 33 relative to the circuit board 31 under thescanning platform 30, the confining member 34 changes states and bendsdifferentially. In order to achieve this purpose, it is preferred thatthe confining member 34 has a particular property or structure so thatthe confining member 34 itself is kept at least a certain clearance fromthe scanning platform 30 while confining the flat flexible cable 32thereunder. For example, the confining member 34 is madeunidirectionally bendable. That is, the confining member 34 can only bebent inward, i.e. toward the flat flexible cable 32, other thanoutwards, i.e. opposite the flat flexible cable 32. Moreover, it ispreferred that the confining member 34 has a bending resistance greaterthan that of the flat flexible cable 32, thereby further assuring of thecertain clearance from the scanning platform 30 without being pushed upto the scanning platform 30 by the flat flexible cable 32 thereunder.Advantageously, the length of the confining member 34 is no greaterthan, i.e. equal to or slightly less than, that of the flat flexiblecable 32 for better confining effect. More preferably, the flat flexiblecable 32 is only partially in contact with the confining member 34 toavoid abrasion therebetween.

The confining member 34 in the above embodiment confines the flatflexible cable 32 by suppressing the upper portion 321 of the flatflexible cable 32. Alternatively, the confining member 34 can beenclosed with the flat flexible cable 32, as is shown in FIG. 3( b) sothat the lower portion 322 of the flat flexible cable 32 is suppressedby the confining member 34. Since the lower portion 322 of the flatflexible cable 32 is pulled downwards, the purpose of preventing thebent portion of the flat flexible cable 32 from rising up to thescanning platform 30 can also be achieved.

Referring to FIG. 4( a), an example of the confining member is shown.The confining member comprises a flexible strip 40 and a plurality ofrigid ribs 41. The flexible strip 40 can be, for example, a plasticfilm. The rigid ribs 41 are fixed on the flexible strip 40 and arrangedone by one in parallel in close to one another along the movingdirection of the carriage so as to enhance the bending resistance of theflexible strip 40. The rigid ribs can be made of plastic or metals. InFIG. 4( a), the cross section of each single rigid rib 41 has a crosssection of a rectangular shape. Alternatively, the cross section of therigid rib 41 can be trapezoid-, pentagon-, Z-letter-, L-letter-,T-letter-shaped, as shown in FIGS. 4( b) to 4(g), respectively, or anyother suitable shape facilitating the differential bending of theconfining member.

The rigid parts 41, instead of being combined together by the flexiblestripe 40 as shown in FIGS. 4( a)˜4(g), can also be interconnected in amanner as illustrated in FIGS. 5( a) and 5(b), wherein FIG. 5( b) is across-sectional view taken along the A-A line of FIG. 5( a). In thisembodiment, the confining member comprises a plurality of rigid parts 51connected in series along the moving direction of the carriage. Byinserting a pin 511 into an opening 512 at the right bottom corner ofeach rigid part 51, each rigid part 51 is pivotally coupled to apreceding rigid part with the front-bottom corner and a following rigidpart with the rear-bottom corner. Accordingly, the confining member canbend differentially with the movement of the carriage.

Referring to FIG. 6, another embodiment of the anti-abrasive mechanismfor confining a flat flexible cable of an image scanner in position isshown. The anti-abrasive mechanism for confining the flat flexible cable71 in position includes a confining member 72, a pulley 73 and a reel74. In this embodiment, the pulley 73 is the one winding thereon thetransmission belt 75 for transmitting carriage to move along the guidingrail 77. The confining member 72 can be, for example, a thread, rope orstrip that has one end secured to the carriage 70 above the flatflexible cable 71 and the other end secured and wound onto the pulley73. The intermediate portion of the confining member 72 is further woundonto the reel 74, which is disposed at a specific position such that afirst section 721 of the confining member 72 extends along the movingdirection of the carriage 70, and the second section 722 of theconfining member 72 is substantially perpendicular to the first section721.

The confining member 72 is continually tensed to keep itself at least acertain clearance from the scanning platform, and thus able to confinethe flat flexible cable 71 thereunder all the time. When a motor 76drives the transmission belt 75 to move in a direction B, the carriage70 will move along the direction C. Meanwhile, the pulley 73 and thereel 74 rotate clockwise (in a direction as indicated by the arrows Dand E, respectively) so as to roll the confining member 72 up, therebykeeping the tensing state of the confining member 72. On the other hand,when the carriage 70 is moving backward the standby position, theconfining member 72 is loosened from the pulley 73 with the movement ofthe carriage 70 due to the counterclockwise rotation of the pulley 73and reel 74 transmitted by the transmission belt 75.

Referring to FIG. 7, a further embodiment of the mechanism for confininga flat flexible cable of an image scanner in position is shown. Theanti-abrasive mechanism for confining the flat flexible cable 82 inposition includes a confining member 84, a first roller 85 and a secondroller 86. The confining member 84 can be, for example, a thread, ropeor strip. The first roller 85 and the second roller 86 are disposedadjacent to and distant from the circuit board 81, respectively. Theconfining member 84 is made cyclic and has two ends thereof respectivelysecured to forward and rearward sides of the carriage 83 and enclosingthe flat flexible cable 82 therewith. Preferably, the confining member84 is kept tensed while the carriage 83 is moving so as to isolate theflat flexible cable 82 from the scanning platform 80.

From the above description, by providing an anti-abrasive mechanism ofthe present invention in the image scanner, the flat flexible cable iscapable of being confined in position due to the specifically designedconfiguration or continuously tensing feature of the confining member.By isolating the flat flexible cable from the glass platform, theabrasion problem can be effectively solved.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosedembodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

1. A mechanism for confining a flat flexible cable in position, saidflat flexible cable being electrically connected between a circuit boardand a carriage and bending differentially with a movement of saidcarriage relative to said circuit board said mechanism comprising: aconfining member disposed between a first portion of said flat flexiblecable and under a surface wherein said confining member is capable ofisolating said flat flexible cable from said surface, wherein saidconfining member changes states and bends differentially with themovement of said carriage relative to said circuit board under saidsurface, and has a bending resistance greater than that of said flatflexible cable so as to keep itself at least a certain clearance fromsaid surface while confining said first portion of said flat flexiblecable there under, wherein said confining member comprises a pluralityof rigid parts connected in series along the moving direction of saidcarriage, and each of said rigid parts is pivotally coupled to apreceding rigid part with the front-bottom corner and a following rigidpart with the rear-bottom corner.
 2. The mechanism according to claim 1wherein said confining member has one end secured to said carriage anddisposed above said first portion of said flat flexible cable, and theother end secured to said circuit board.
 3. The mechanism according toclaim 2 wherein the length of said confining member is no greater thanthat of said flat flexible cable.
 4. The mechanism according to claim 1wherein said confining member is unidirectionally bendable.
 5. Themechanism according to claim 1, wherein said confining member is madecyclic and has two ends thereof respectively secured to forward andrearward sides of said carriage and enclosing said flat flexible cabletherewith.
 6. The mechanism according to claim 5 further comprising tworollers disposed adjacent to and distant from said circuit board,respectively, along the moving direction of said carriage for tensingsaid confining member and facilitating the rotation of said confiningmember with the movement of said carriage.
 7. The mechanism according toclaim 1, wherein said surface comprises a scanning platform surface ofan image scanner.
 8. An image scanner comprising: a scanning platform; acircuit board; a carriage; a flat flexible cable electrically connectedbetween said circuit board and said carriage and bending differentiallywith a movement of said carriage relative to said circuit board undersaid scanning platform; and a confining member disposed between a firstportion of said flat flexible cable and said scanning platform, whereinsaid confining member is capable of isolating said flat flexible cablefrom said scanning platform, wherein said confining member is capable ofchanging states and bending differentially with the movement of saidcarriage relative to said circuit board under said scanning platform,and has a bending resistance greater than that of said flat flexiblecable so as to maintain a clearance from said scanning platform whileconfining said first portion of said flat flexible cable there under,wherein said confining member comprises a plurality of rigid partsconnected in series along a moving direction of said carriage, and eachof said rigid parts is pivotally coupled to a preceding rigid part witha front-bottom corner and a following rigid part with a rear-bottomcorner.
 9. An apparatus for use with a flat flexible cable, the flatflexible cable being electrically connected between a circuit board anda carriage and bending differentially with a movement of the carriagerelative to the circuit board, the apparatus comprising: means forconfining the flat flexible cable, said means being disposed between afirst portion of the flat flexible cable and a surface and isolating theflat flexible cable from said surface by changing states and bendingdifferentially with the movement of said carriage relative to saidcircuit board so as to maintain a clearance from said surface whileconfining said first portion of said flat flexible cable there under.10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said surface comprises ascanning platform surface of an image scanner.